Wilwood Electronic Parking Brake - Need photos of your installation

After looking at it some more, I might be routing the harness for the calipers with the same route as the rear side marker wiring.  This avoids running a new harness along the bottom of the car.

It looks like the switch for the EPB will get mounted where the cigar lighter currently lives.  It looks like the Wilwood engineers designed it that way.

Your thoughts on the harness routing and switch placement?

You may be aware of the routing of the taillight harness in the wheel well to clean up the engine bay…. Maybe you want to consider doing that, and routing the EPB wiring there as well, and just come through the marker light sleeves as needed to get to the calipers?

Rocky

Yes, that is my thinking. The taillight harness is already rerouted out of the engine bay and into the passenger wheel well. The new EPB harness would piggyback on that.

Steve, as an alternative, you could mount the EPB switch in the hazard light switch location then relocate the hazard light switch to the cigar lighter location. You want to avoid any possibility of the EPB’s being activated accidentally and a curious passenger could create a very unsafe situation.

I mounted a Honda Starter button in the hazard light switch location and was surprised to find the hazard light switch fit perfectly in the cigar lighter hole.

I recently finsihed installing the Wilwood EPB.  I installed Recaro seats and Kirk Evans bulkhead reduction kit.  I had to remove the handbrake, there was no other way.  The Wilwood Electronic Parking Brake seemed like an obvious solution.  I mounted the Wilwood ECU on the firewall, passenger side, next to MSD-6AL and Tach Adapter.  Its getting crowded back there.

I didn't have to modify the wiring harness at all.  In fact I coiled up some of the extra length and may shorten it later.  I ran the switch wires along the AC lines behind the passenger seat and to the ctr console.  They are just long enough to place the switch in the cigar lighter hole.

I also spent far too long trying to get the dash light to come on when the parking brake was set.  The Pantera uses the handbrake to pull the dash bulb low, which is not the case in the installation instructions (provides +12).  Rather than rewire the light under the dash I used a second automotive relay to pull the original wire to ground.

Now I've lost my cigar lighter and wish I could trickle charge it through the lighter again.

JJones,

Are your mounting brackets for stock sized rear rotors?

The brackets change size depending on the rotor diameter and thickness.  Each combination may produce a different bracket.  I supply the drawing as a starting point.  I 3D printed the bracket a few times until I was happy.  Had them machined once.  The previous owner did the initial Wilwood rotor conversion, I don't have the docs.

A few more pics for the OP, routing wire on driver's side.  I used one zip tie to the SS brake cable.  Now I'm sure someone is going to give me 10 reasons not to do that.  If you have a better idea, please share your pics.

@jjones posted:

The brackets change size depending on the rotor diameter and thickness.  Each combination may produce a different bracket.  I supply the drawing as a starting point.  

… but is the bracket in the drawing for a stock diameter rotor?  Is that the “starting point”?

The bracket was designed for 11.75” dia x 0.71” thick rotors.  - JJ

@davidnunn posted:

Thank you for the information. BTW, you probably meant 0.71” thick rotors.

I did.  I made the edit.  Thank you, J

All good info and photos.  It is much appreciated.

@jjones posted:

I mounted the Wilwood ECU on the firewall, passenger side, next to MSD-6AL and Tach Adapter.  Its getting crowded back there.

again.

That area is crowded in this car as well.  I'm not sure yet where it will land.

I finished installation of the Wilwood Electronic Parking Brake.  I was able to mostly conceal the wiring for the calipers and routed with the existing harness for the side markers and tail lights.  The red line is where the mostly concealed wire runs.

Looking very clean.  I may revisit my wiring to clean it up.  My son's wedding and veh inspection was in July so I was pressed to get the brake working.  I think I would like to move the switch out of the cig lighter and on the dash somewhere.  I cringe to think a passenger could unwittingly mess with it while I'm busy driving.  Modern cars probably disable the epb when the wheels are turning.

@jjones posted:

... I think I would like to move the switch out of the cig lighter and on the dash somewhere.  I cringe to think a passenger could unwittingly mess with it while I'm busy driving.  Modern cars probably disable the epb when the wheels are turning.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, the hazard switch and cigar lighter occupy the same sized holes, so you can relocate the hazard switch to the hole previously occupied by the cigar lighter and put the EPB switch in the hole that the hazard switch previously occupied.

If your Pantera has EFI and a VSS, you can configure one of the ECU's outputs to disable the EPB at any speed you wish.   

Another safeguard would be to add a small switch in the console area that disables the parking brake switch.  When turned off it would prevent  a passenger from inadvertently locking up the rear tires.  It could also be used as a theft deterrent.  You could set the brake and then put the semi-hidden switch in the off position.

I've looked at this kit. I'm wondering if the switch could be integrated with the oem brake handle somehow.  It would be nice to keep it and look oem.

@stevebuchanan posted:

Another safeguard would be to add a small switch in the console area that disables the parking brake switch.  When turned off it would prevent  a passenger from inadvertently locking up the rear tires.  It could also be used as a theft deterrent.  You could set the brake and then put the semi-hidden switch in the off position.

I would agree with @davidnunn partially..(relocating the hazard switch is quite the undertaking)

The switch that comes in the kit does not look like a common parking brake switch as you see in all other cars so 99% of the people would not know what that which is, but the location of the switch might be a giveaway if it’s in the center console! Besides 98% of all car thieves would not know how to drive stick!
Electric parking brake switch in the area of the emergency hazard switch so nothing bad can happen accidentally… and a small idiot light so you don’t forget…

this is my idiot light

this also would be a good place for the switch and there is enough room….

And you can wire it so you only can set the parking brake if the ignition is off!!

That would actually make sense… I think 🤔 just thinking out loud…

The Wilwood switch has an integrated red LED that lights up when the brake is on.  No need for an extra light.  It also an extra wire that can trigger a relay to illuminate the brake warning light in the dash (see photo below from my other Pantera).  The second photo shows the what I think is the brake warning light on this car.  I will test it in a few days.

This car's interior is ultra original and I am reluctant to modify it.  In fact, I have been going the other way and undoing changes that were made to it.  Next on my list is the shifter knob.  The one you see in the photo has a flip up hatch that allows you to engage the nitrous system that I have removed from the equation.

For now I will put the parking brake switch in the cigar lighter hole and perhaps relocate it later.

I believe the brake warning light illuminates for pad wear, not when parking brake engaged.

There are two warning lights.  In the above photo with the beige dash, the red lamp that is not illuminated (above the one that is illuminated) works as you described.

The one that is lit up is for the parking brake and for the shuttle valve (brake pressure low) in the front trunk.

I did a low speed test of the electronic parking brake in my 2022 Subaru.  At about 15 MPH, I put the car in neutral and tried to engage the brake and it did nothing.  I read somewhere if you keep holding it then it will engage.  When I did so the parking brake did engage and the anti-lock system came to life immediately.  It was not a pleasant braking experience and I immediately released the brake.  Panteras do not have anti-lock brakes and that means the rear brakes will simply lock up if the Wilwood parking brake is engaged while driving.

@stevebuchanan posted:

I did a low speed test of the electronic parking brake in my 2022 Subaru.  At about 15 MPH, I put the car in neutral and tried to engage the brake and it did nothing.  I read somewhere if you keep holding it then it will engage.  When I did so the parking brake did engage and the anti-lock system came to life immediately.  It was not a pleasant braking experience and I immediately released the brake.  Panteras do not have anti-lock brakes and that means the rear brakes will simply lock up if the Wilwood parking brake is engaged while driving.

Yup… as far as I know all cars with the electric parking brake will use ALL brakes and the ABS when applied during driving!
NOT just the rear! There is a variation between carmakers how brutal the brakes will get applied (some even turn on the hazards) but in principle they all do the same! And it makes sense… just applying the rear brakes harsh by using a button and not being able to control the braking force manually will make the car swap ends rather quickly!

especially with the engine in the back!

I went with the Wilwood manual parking brake… because…. Shit happens!

The Wilwood switch is installed in the cigar lighter hole.   I omitted the bezel for the switch making it more innocuous.

I also replaced the the large aluminum shift knob with a stock knob.  I had to replace the shift rod as well because it had been modified for the nitrous setup.  They somehow drilled the entire length of the rod with a small diameter bit and threaded three wires through the rod for the nitrous switch that was in the shift knob.  You simply flipped up the cap on the knob and then pressed the button.  Pretty much like the movies, perhaps better.  They were from the school called "You never know when you'll need an extra 100hp"

So I was just thinking about how to disable the epb when the ignition is in the 'run' position, which assumes the engine is running and the wheels could be turning. 0-off/lock, 1-acc, 2-run, 3-start.  If the epb could only be used when the key is in position 1-acc, then that would exclude any time the wheels *could* be turning under the engine's power.

The epb is normally powered by the accessory circuit.  Run that circuit through a normally closed relay.  The relay gets pulled open when the key is turned to 2-run  and the state of the parking brake cannot be changed at that point.

It means if you fail to release the epb at the first key position, and start the engine, you would have to shut the engine off to unlock the brakes.  Also makes a hill start more difficult as you wouldn't have power brakes available when unlocking the epb to pull out of a spot.  Pros and cons

A speed sensor on one hub would be ideal, but not an easy thing to impliment on a pre abs car.

When the key is in the RUN position, the ACC function is also activated.

John

@jjones posted:

So I was just thinking about how to disable the epb when the ignition is in the 'run' position, which assumes the engine is running and the wheels could be turning. 0-off/lock, 1-acc, 2-run, 3-start.  If the epb could only be used when the key is in position 1-acc, then that would exclude any time the wheels *could* be turning under the engine's power.

The epb is normally powered by the accessory circuit.  Run that circuit through a normally closed relay.  The relay gets pulled open when the key is turned to 2-run  and the state of the parking brake cannot be changed at that point.

It means if you fail to release the epb at the first key position, and start the engine, you would have to shut the engine off to unlock the brakes.  Also makes a hill start more difficult as you wouldn't have power brakes available when unlocking the epb to pull out of a spot.  Pros and cons

A speed sensor on one hub would be ideal, but not an easy thing to impliment on a pre abs car.

How about your foot has to be on the break to enable and disable the parking break…

This should be an easy Thing to build…

On my car when I bought it,  there was a brake light switch mounted on the pedal stop… Because the original brake switch in the brass t- fitting in the front was broken..

you could install  the switch in the brake pedal limiter (upwards ) that would provide power to the parking brake unit once you press the break… In any configuration ignition on and no ignition on.. key or no key! Just like a real good old parking break…

that would be my solution!

That's a good idea too.  I'll probably just move the switch out of the passenger's reach, which doesn't add any more wiring to an already complicated circuit.  I think there are 7 wires going to the rotary switch.